The trick is all smoke and no mirrors

At the beginning of your upkeep, you may put a soot counter on this artifact. At the beginning of each player's upkeep, that player sacrifices a permanent of their choice for each soot counter on this artifact.

Counter target activated or triggered ability. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.)

Split second (As long as this spell is on the stack, players can't cast spells or activate abilities that aren't mana abilities.) Counter target activated or triggered ability. If a permanent's ability is countered this way, activated abilities of that permanent can't be activated this turn. (Mana abilities can't be targeted.)

Imprint — When this artifact enters, you may exile an instant card with mana value 2 or less from your hand. , : You may copy the exiled card. If you do, you may cast the copy without paying its mana cost.